The third cycle of the support program for journalism and communication students has been successfully completed with the production of 12 investigative stories.

In the period from October 2022 to March 2023, Partners Serbia, together with a team of experts, worked with 25 students of journalism and communication studies from the faculties of Niš, Novi Sad, and Belgrade to enhance the knowledge and skills of future journalists for reporting on challenges in the field of transparency, openness, accountability, and anti-corruption.

The work with students began with the educational training called "Fall School: The Future of Freedom of Information in Serbia," which was organized from October 27 to 30, 2022, in Divčibare. After the conclusion of the Fall School, the students, divided into teams, worked on creating investigative stories with the assistance of a mentoring team consisting of professors and journalists.

The students developed 12 stories that focus on problems and topics they consider important. Some of the topics are dedicated to students and their position in Serbia, including student organizations, student rights, party influence on the student parliament, and inadequate regulation of work practices, among others.

Other topics are related to the functioning of institutions and the inefficient resolution of various issues, such as violence against educators, illegal construction, insufficient transparency of the judiciary, and street sales. The local topics addressed by the students pertain to the problem of public transport in Belgrade, the lack of drop-in centers for children in Niš, the lengthy process of enrolling children in kindergartens in the City of Niš, and the damage to the Banovina complex in Novi Sad caused by new construction.

Through working on these stories, students had the opportunity to experience the entire research process, from start to finish.

The goal of these activities is to enable students—future journalists, activists, decision-makers, and academic workers—to recognize challenges and advocate for the right to access information and freedom of expression, oversee the work of institutions, and professionally and objectively report to citizens on topics of public importance, especially considering the increasing closure of institutions.

All the works are available on our website in the Blog section under the "Student Stories" category: https://www.partners-serbia.org/studentske-price.

All these activities were carried out with the support of the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs within the project "Improving Citizens' Trust in the Judicial System of Serbia."